Modern consumer electronics, such as smart phones, personal digital assistants, and location based services devices, as well as enterprise electronics, such as servers and storage arrays, are packing more integrated circuits into an ever shrinking physical space with expectations for decreasing cost. Every new generation of integrated circuits with increased operating frequency, performance and the higher level of large scale integration have underscored the need for back mixed-signal solutions. Numerous technologies have been developed to meet these requirements. Some of the research and development strategies focus on new technologies while others focus on improving the mature package technologies.
The continued emphasis in the semiconductor technology is to create improved performance semiconductor devices at competitive prices. This emphasis over the years has resulted in extreme miniaturization of semiconductor devices, made possible by continued advances of semiconductor processes and materials in combination with new and sophisticated device designs. The extreme miniaturization and integration of functions into a single integrated circuit device must still be tested for functionality and for debug purposes.
In response to the demands for reduced package dimensions and increased functional integration the test and debug functions requires additional visibility of the integrated circuit beyond the normal operation input, output (I/O). This often leads to the integrated circuit die having more I/O than the package pins. Some approaches attempt to handle the I/O differences through internal circuit designs leading to more complex I/O designs and increasing risk. Others approaches tie multiple bond wires to a single pin but requires more surface area on the pins.
Thus, a need still remains for the integrated circuit package system providing low cost manufacturing as well as reduced package dimensions. In view of the ever-increasing need to save costs and improve efficiencies, it is more and more critical that answers be found to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.